Night life
by Mobiusman3
Summary: What do you do with a hungry vampire? Try to keep it from snacking on the citizenry, of course. Will the Titans be able to out-fox this hunter of the night, or will they go from hunters to hunted? Fair-use copyright crap, might have to up rating, depends on how I'll feel about later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

It began as nothing more than a string of disappearances. People who would not be missed by anyone would just drop off the face of the earth. Gang members, drug dealers, and suppliers of all kinds of illicit trades, for example. It would have been seen as almost a good thing, if they were simply leaving town or were the victims of a turf war. Then, after about four-dozen people had gone, the police took notice. They had found no signs of a war, no reappearances, not even a body. Then the first witness came forward. He was a man of dubious employ, housing, and sobriety. The kind of man your eyes would just slide over. That might have been why he was the only person to see it happen. He had thought it was just a dream, until the televisions carried the announcement asking for a witness. His words stumbled at first. He was terrified of the microphone, it seemed. Then what he saw came out. A Thing, he claimed, with a man in Its jaws, eyes burning like the pits of Hell, soaring on wings that defiled the night with their shadow. That was when the cases were bumped from missing persons to meta-human crimes. The police passed on the files to the Titans after that, promising to give their support however possible. The alley in question was examined. Little in the way of physical evidence was found. Blood of unknown origin, its presence of uncertain importance, a hat, possibly the victim's, possibly just having missed the dumpster, and a slight, lingering stench of death, fear, and earth was all that could be traced by material means. The spiritual plane, however, told a different tale. The creature that had taken the man was neither human nor living. The perpetrator left ashes of the fires of the demonic and wisps of the shadows of the unliving in its wake. Above all else, it could be stressed, that this was something powerful, ancient, cunning, and ruthless. In short, it was the most perfect predator to have ever walked the earth, skills honed to the point that even man, the "most dangerous game" was but a simple fruit, waiting to be plucked and feasted upon.

This was the report that was given by the Titans resident occultist and psychic medium, less than 24 hours after the ending of their initial processing of the scene. The rest of the Titans were flabbergasted.

"In summation," Raven continued, seemingly ignoring the looks her teammates were giving her "we are up against something far worse than any 'normal' meta-human or criminal. I fear we are dealing with the supernatural, and a particularly dangerous member at that: One that takes victims at night, at least once a week, with few to no witnesses. No struggle, no muss, no fuss."

"So what is it?" Asked Cyborg, "and I know you have a theory."

"To risk sounding absurd or clichéd, I'm leaning toward vampire. Powerful one too, with lots of experience and far up its bloodline, maybe as far as third generation, but as far down as fifth." She said, with some uncertainty. "I have no way of knowing for sure unless I were to interview it."

"Okay," Changeling piped up, "Two questions. One: how do we find/catch/deal with this thing, and two: are we going to finally call in help. This seems more like something Jason Blood or Doctor Fate would deal with, not us."


	2. Chapter 2

Changeling's question hung in the air. Everyone present knew that calling in outside help was a touchy subject. It added more variables and could be used to undermine the Titan's autonomy. Suddenly the Tamaranian spoke up.

"Friend Garfield has a point. We have little knowledge on the subject of vampires, while Jason Blood and the Doctor of Fate would." She said, with some uncertainty, looking at the floor.

"That was actually my recommendation" Raven said, slightly stunned that Changeling, of all people would come to that conclusion.

All eyes turned slowly to Nightwing, the team's leader. He returned their gazes before turning up his eyes in supplication. "I'll call the League for contact details after this meeting." He finally said.

The next few hours were spent setting up a search grid and patterns to try to find, or rule out, locations for the vampire's lair. Night wing had made several calls, first the Justice League, then to Jason Blood, only to get an "I deal with daemons, not Nosferatu" the back to the League to try again to speak with Fate, only to get a "He doesn't have a phone and you have to talk to him yourselves, here's his address." One anger and frustration fueled bout of pacing later, and the information was passed on. A trip to the east coast and Fate's tower later had the Titans filled with information on the subjects of searching for, doing battle with, and extermination of vampires. Over the next week it was determined that the vampire was not in the city or suburbs. Investigation into the locations of old manor houses proved fruitless, leaving only the local cave systems to be checked. They were three miles out from the first one when Raven found what she needed: the vampire's shadow, cast out like a spider's web to detect intruders and potential prey. Once the web had been traced to its center, a large cave system, they Titans retreated to make their battle plans.

The meeting room table was covered with maps and weapons; namely stakes, holy water, silver edged weapons and instruments, all blessed by local rabbis and priests of many denominations. Nightwing outlined his plan: "Raven, you, Cyborg, and Starfire will enter the caves shortly before dawn. This is when the creature's power is at its lowest ebb. If you find it sleeping, stake it into the coffin or whatever it is sleeping in through the hands, feet, and heart, bandage up its eyes and call Changeling and myself in. We ask some questions, we cut its head off, and we burn the body and scatter the ashes at a crossroads. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what is we run into other vampires?" Cyborg asked.

"Stake 'em and we'll build a bigger fire."

"I got one!" Changeling began, "Why are we not going in Dick? I've always wanted to go monster hunting."

"Simple. You are weak to mind control, and I'm not much more than a blood bag to a powerful vampire. Cyborg's metal components and strength can keep him safe; while Star and Raven's non-human biology make them non-targets for anything they might run into. The fact that they are easily the two most powerful members of our team helps as well."

"Fair enough, O fearless leader!" Garfield responded, if a little ruefully.

"We strike tomorrow, so we all have to be up well before the dawn."

It was a restless night for all, with constant checks to gear throughout the night. The three hunters then geared up with their silver implements and religious gear and they all moved out, heading for the caves, ready to face whatever lurked below.


End file.
